


under the kotatsu

by EnderMoonstone



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, They're a Family, for a server exchange, just a couple of lads being soft under a kotatsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29482107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnderMoonstone/pseuds/EnderMoonstone
Summary: Ren brings home a kotatsu to keep warm for the winter. Kitty snuggles ensue.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Morgana (Persona Series)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	under the kotatsu

**Author's Note:**

> For another Discord server fic exchange!

In Morgana’s humble opinion, the best purchase Ren ever made with his excessively-sized wallet is a small, foldable kotatsu table. It doesn’t fit many people, but it  _ does _ fit one lanky teenager and his spoiled  cat sidekick, plus one or two other Phantom Thieves who like to drop in unannounced. During the winter, Morgana constantly begs for Ren to open up the kotatsu and let him snuggle up under it, because he “deserves it for all the hard work he’s done keeping the Phantom Thieves successful.” The reasoning always makes Ren roll his eyes—it’s not like Morgana needs to justify cuddling up under the kotatsu, but his excuses are cute nonetheless. It’s a cold day, and the attic isn’t very well insulated, so as soon as Ren gets home from work he’s prepared to dive under the kotatsu. 

"Mrrow.." Morgana's taking a cat nap on the bed, opening one eye and stretching his legs. "What's with all the racket? I need my beauty sleep."

Ren hums as he sets his bag down and slips under the blanket, flicking the heater on. “Cold out. Come over here.” Morgana mumbles something as he gets up and stretches. He hops down from the bed and heads on in, sticking out his little face from under the blanket.

Ren chuckles and boops his nose, sighing happily as the heater kicks in and warmth washes over his legs. "Yeah... I definitely needed this."

"Mrrow!" He meows in protest, scrunching up his nose. "Mm.. you're lucky I like you." He tells him, crawling into his lap and curling up there. Ren smiles warmly and strokes his hand down his back, watching as Morgana stretches out and settles with a soft sigh. 

“I know I am. Very lucky.” Morgana peeks one blue eye up at him, as if seeming confused.

“What’s with the sappy tone…? I was joking, you know that, right?”

“I know. I just mean it—I’m lucky you stuck around this long. You mean a lot to me, you know?”

Morgana doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, seeming a little lost. “I… do?”

“Of course you do. You’ve done a lot for me. Like, an insane amount.”

He huffs a bit and preens, not sure how to react. “Well- um-- of course I have! But it comes with a price, you know that… my services aren’t… free…” The arrogant posturing he usually tries when he’s saving face isn’t working for some reason. He’s too open and vulnerable in the face of Ren’s sincere gratitude, and he doesn’t know what to do.

So he shifts and buries his face in Ren’s shirt, snuggling up against him. He can’t think of the proper words; stripped of his bravado in the face of Ren’s sincerity. Ren chuckles softly and trails his hand down Morgana’s back, giving him gentle pets.

“That one threw you off, huh?”

“Sh-shut up. It was unexpected.” He peeks up at Ren before settling down happily, turning into a little purring machine. “You’re not usually so sappy, that’s all. It’s not like it got me or anything.” It totally got him. But Morgana isn’t one to show weakness, involuntarily or otherwise. He seems to hate it when people understand him too deeply… it must scare him, how easily Ren sees through him.

“You’re snugglier than I remember,” Ren teases lightly, scratching him gently at the base of his neck. “I thought you weren’t a cat. Or affectionate.”

“Mmn… I can… make a few exceptions,” he gets out through his purring, squirming slightly to expose his neck a little better so he can get more delicious scritches. It makes Ren laugh, though he tries not to be too loud so he doesn’t jostle Morgana.

“What changed, Mona?” It’s mostly a tease, but he is actually curious. They did get closer over the course of the year, but… Morgana is still the same nagging cat. Why is he so affectionate all of a sudden?

“N-nothing,” he murmurs, stretching out. “Just… you told me I could stay here forever… but it’s weird to just  _ be _ here without… without a purpose. You know? I’m the planner… but I don’t have a plan anymore.”

“That’s okay,” Ren hums, pausing his hand to let Morgana look up at him. “You don’t  _ need _ a plan. You can stay with me, as long as you want. Like I told you.”

From the look on the cat’s face, it doesn’t seem like he considered that. For the strategist to be without a plan… it must be strange for him. Morgana is meticulous, bratty tendencies aside, and it makes sense that he would be insecure about it. He doesn’t know how to just…  _ exist _ without a purpose. The thought sobers Ren slightly, and he strokes a finger down the middle of his head for a moment.

Morgana’s ears flatten a bit as his forehead untenses from the motion of Ren’s hand. “Mrr… it’s just weird, that’s all. I dunno what to do with myself anymore. ‘Cause I am  _ not _ a cat,” he reminds him slightly petulantly.

“I know you’re not. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take some time and relax, you know? You’re independent. There doesn’t  _ have _ to be a purpose for you. I have space for you and I like taking care of you.” Morgana’s eyes close.

“..Yeah.. okay. Okay.” He settles down, scooting as far under the blanket of the kotatsu so his little head is just barely peeking out. “I guess I should learn how to relax a little… I just don’t want to… be like a cat.”

“Cats live a way better life than people,” Ren teases. “Sitting around and eating good food and not having a care in the world. You’re plenty spoiled, you know that?”

“Could be better,” he mumbles, rolling his eyes. “Like… more fatty tuna. And sushi. And—”

Ren cuts him off with a boop to his nose. “You get what you get. You’re already spoiled; I probably spend more money on you than I do the rest of my friends combined.”

“Well, I deserve better! I wake you up on time and I remind you to do your homework and I make sure you go to bed on time and…” Morgana continues to ramble on, but Ren just shakes his head fondly and returns to petting him. It’s true that Morgana does help keep his life in shape; he can be a little scatterbrained after everything that’s happened, retreating into his own head on accident. But it’s also true that Morgana is  _ definitely _ spoiled despite all his complaining. He’s got a padded wallet thanks to all of those trips into Mementos, but now that it’s gone the money isn’t infinite and he has more things to worry about than buying the highest-quality fish for his picky cat. 

“Hey! Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, dear,” Ren deadpans, trying to keep a grin off his face when he hears Morgana’s indignant meow.

“I’m telling you all the reasons you should buy me better fish!” He shifts to brace his paws against Ren’s chest, looking up into his eyes with a pout. “I definitely deserve it.”

“Yes, you do,” he placates, scratching Morgana behind his ear and poking him in the chest to get him to put his paws down. “But our money isn’t infinite anymore now that Mementos is gone, okay? I have to think about spending it on things  _ other _ than sushi and stuff like that for once. How about we come up with a birthday for you? That way we have a set date every year to treat you so you don’t beg for stuff all the time when I don’t have it in the budget.”

Morgana grumbles a bit at that, seemingly thinking about it. “...When’s your birthday?”

Ren looks surprised at that. He’s never bothered celebrating his birthday much; back home it wasn’t much of an affair, and this past year has been much too busy to think about anything like that. “September 1st, why?”

Morgana nods to himself, a curl in his lip appearing the same way it does when he’s come up with a particularly great plan. “I want my birthday to be September 1st too!”

“...” Ren looks stunned. “...Really? Why’s that…?” Morgana huffs, the same way he does when he thinks Ren is being stupid.

“Because it’s yours, idiot! That way we can celebrate together, and I won’t ever forget it.” The sentiment makes Ren pause, and a tiny smile appears on his face.

“You really are more of a sweetheart than you let on, huh?”

“You’re really gonna say that to my face after I bared my soul like that?!” Ren chuckles softly, shaking his head. Some things never change…

***

A few hours have passed, idle small talk and some snacks shared under the kotatsu as the sun slowly sets. Snowflakes are drifting lazily past the window, but it’s quickly becoming too dark to see them. Ren’s face is squished against the floor from where he lays, Morgana stretched out across his chest. His glasses press up against his cheek, leaving red lines as a surprise for when the boy wakes up.

“Mrr…” Morgana stretches out in his sleep, waking up a bit when he nearly falls off of Ren’s chest. “Mm… dark out…” He looks down at Ren’s peacefully sleeping face and settles down, tucking his paws against his chest and turning into a loaf shape. He can’t bear to bother his beauty sleep, even if they  _ are _ on the floor… he’s always going on about the importance of beauty sleep, and he doesn’t want to be a hypocrite now. He reaches out and uses one claw to hook Ren’s glasses away from his face, letting them fall to the side. He snickers to himself at the red marks left on his cheek; for as suave as Ren can be during the day, he really is just a dork who took in a random cat against his will.

That thought sobers him a little. He really was just a random cat at first, huh? And not even a particularly sweet one; mostly a brat, even if he  _ was _ quite useful to helping all of the Phantom Thieves learn their way around. Should he have been nicer…? Would the others have warmed up to him more if he was? But he also believed in the importance of tough love… some things just can’t be learned with gentle words. Some things have to be learned with a push off a cliff, so to speak. 

And not everyone falls off that cliff with the same grace… Ren fell like he had an invisible parachute the whole time, pushing up his glasses as the air rushed past him. Some of the other Thieves had their own stumbling blocks… but Ren was prepared from the start. It was almost superhuman… but as much as the other Thieves might believe that, Morgana was privy to the thoughts Ren never put into words around them. Morgana was privy to the sleepless nights and the constant scratching of a pen in the little journal gifted by Sojiro. When Ren accidentally left the journal out on his desk instead of hiding it away in his pocket all the time, he sometimes snuck onto the desk and carefully pawed it open. And inside were… lines upon lines about the different Personas he’d acquired, doodles of blacked out faces, inner thoughts that really concerned him. _Who am I?_ _If you dug down to my very roots, what would you find? A person covered in this mask of magic or absolutely nothing at all?_ Poetic tendencies aside, it made Morgana snuggle up to him a little tighter at night. It actually struck him as familiar; the idea of having someone real, someone tangible buried underneath everything, or absolutely nothing at all. It made him realize that him and Ren aren’t as different as they might think, personalities aside; who are they at their core? And are they brave enough to find out?

Morgana shakes himself out of his introspection with a little chirp and a short moment of grooming his ears, shaking his head a bit. This wasn’t the time to be like this… everything is over. He’s supposed to be relaxing. Ren told him to relax. 

So what if he’s not sure who he is yet despite their long journey? He knows  _ where _ he is… and that’s at Ren’s side, under a cheap kotatsu, listening to an annoyingly lovable teenager snore the night away without a care in the world.


End file.
